Investors and Analysts Need to Consider Online Retail Sales

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September 04, 2009
Op Ed By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team

While online ecommerce sales are not a huge part of most retailers overall revenue, they still contribute to the bottom line. Almost every large traditional brick and mortar store has an online storefront where consumers can browse products and find what they want from the convenience of their own home. Despite many retailers having increases in online sales during rough economic conditions, analysts and investors still do not factor this in their monthly reviews. Online sales are slowly becoming a bigger part of total company revenue so analysts should no longer measure the health of retailers solely based on their in-store productivity.

The International Council of Shopping Centers recently reported that August same-store sales slipped 2%. Refusal to account for growing e-commerce sales clouds the true view of how well some retailers are performing. Computers and Internet access are continually becoming more affordable which results in more people being able to shop online instead of driving to visit the store in person. Not only do consumers not have to pay for gas to drive to the store when shopping online, consumers can also compare products at thousands of ecommerce stores and get the best deal possible. Online sales are still not making up for consumers holding back on spending money with major retailers, but investors and analysts still should factor them in when they review the industry each month. Retailers appear to have tremendous faith in the future of ecommerce as many of them invest in upgrading and redesigning their websites in anticipation of the economy picking back up.